Carlos Sainz may have labelled Lewis Hamilton’s move and their subsequent contact in Miami as “quite typical”, but the Briton was more complimentary of his Ferrari predecessor’s attack.

Hamilton and Sainz were running seventh and eighth in the closing laps of the Miami Grand Prix, Hamilton having dropped behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc when Ferrari reversed earlier team orders.

Lewis Hamilton’s view of that Carlos Sainz ‘dive’

Told that Sainz was running 1.4 seconds behind him, Hamilton, who was already frustrated with the decisions coming from Ferrari’s pit wall, clapped back: “You want me to let him pass as well?”

Neither Ferrari nor Hamilton had any intention of doing that, but Sainz had a plan of his own.

He closed up onto the rear of Hamilton’s rear wing on the final lap of the Grand Prix and tried to launch an attack up the inside of Turn 17, only for the two to bang wheels.

The Williams driver, speaking to the media including PlanetF1.com, called the contact “quite typical” given Hamilton moved when he saw Sainz dive for the corner.

“I think he obviously was doing the best he could to defend,” Sainz said.

“I had a go into the last corner. He moved as soon as he saw me dive. And that created contact, which I think is quite typical, honestly.

“But obviously, if you follow exactly the rule book, he cannot move as much as he did, but on the last lap that’s how it goes.”

The stewards saw it as a racing incident, stating that ‘both drivers contributed to the incident’ as Sainz ‘did not clearly get in a position’ for the corner while Hamilton ‘turned into the corner earlier than usual’.

They ruled: ‘No driver is deemed predominantly to blame for the collision and therefore no further action is taken.’

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But while Sainz was irked by Hamilton’s actions and the lack of a penalty, Hamilton called it a “good move” from his Ferrari predecessor.

“On the final lap I lost the rear tyres,” the seven-time World Champion told DAZN. “I lost a lot of tyre following Charles and they were getting destroyed.

“[Carlos] got into DRS range in the last corner, I tried to turn into the apex and he was there. We touched a bit.”

“It was fine,” he added. “I think it was a good move from him.”

Hamilton finished the Grand Prix in eighth place in a season in which he has yet to reach the podium in a Grand Prix. He has two in the two Sprint races, winning in China before finishing P3 in Miami, but the big one remains elusive.

As such he’s down in seventh place in the Drivers’ Championship where he sits on 41 points, 90 behind championship leader Oscar Piastri.

The 40-year-old admits Ferrari have gone backwards in recent races.

“I think this car really does have performance,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “We’re just not… Something’s holding us back at the moment.

“We’ve lost performance since China. It’s there, it’s just we can’t use it. So we need a fix for that.”

“I truly believe that when we fix some of the problems that we have with the car, we’ll be back in the fight with the Mercedes, with the Bulls, and it just can’t come quicker.”

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